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which he has become lawfully entitled before the passing of this Act.” His view is that there cannot be an uniform law for the whole Empire, but that a marriage legally made in any one part of Her Majesty’s dominions by persons domiciled there should be recognised as valid in every other part of Her Majesty’s dominions.
The President: This goes further. Is it to carry all the consequences of succession and inheritance?
Sir James Garrick: It is to be recognised as a valid marriage, and I have no doubt Sir Samuel Griffith intends that all the consequences of a valid marriage shall follow. Although in Scotland the law of inheritance of real estate has not been changed by the recognition of children born before wedlock, I think that there is some difference between the position in Scotland and our position. Of course we cannot press upon this country, and we do not seek to press upon this country, a point of this kind. We can only point out to them how undesirable it is, having sanctioned such marriages, and having validated these contracts, to say with regard to the most important element of them that they are not valid. The position is, it strikes me, an inconsistent one. The result is that persons validly married abroad according to our law, when they come here are looked upon in some senses in a social light almost as persons who are not married at all.
Mr. Adye Douglas: There is no doubt that the position taken up by Mr. Wisdom is the position taken up in the Colonies—that the sanction of the Imperial Government has been given to marriages of this description, and that the results of those marriages have not been in any shape or way recognised by the Imperial Parliament.
